Lockheed Martin has just upgraded its D-Wave One quantum computer to the D-Wave Two, a machine the company’s founder Geordie Rose said is 500,000 times faster than its predecessor, which was already faster than a conventional computer.

“I don’t think we would have been able to succeed to the extent that we have without them,” Dr. Rose said of Lockheed Martin’s investment.

Quantum computers operate at speeds unattainable by even today’s most powerful supercomputers, operations that are so fast they can process millions of calculations in a fraction of the months, even years, traditional computers take.

They can even be taught and can recognize objects in images, a task standard computers struggle with.

Ray Johnson, Lockheed’s chief technical officer, told The New York Times his company would use the highly advanced computer technology to create and test complex radar, space and aircraft systems.